Tuesday, 18 December 2012

Live Review: Erica Iris Huang (Nov. 20th 2011)

I attend a lot of classical music concerts in Winnipeg, many of which I write reviews of. I'm going to post these reviews on here, although first I'll post some older reviews before I post more recent reviews.

Reviewed by Paul R. McCullochThe second concert of the Women’s
Musical Club of Winnipeg season was a highly anticipated one, as on Sunday,
Nov. 20th the Muriel Richardson Auditorium would be welcoming
dramatic mezzo-soprano Erica Iris Huang – winner of the 34th annual
Eckhardt-Gramatté National Competition – to its stage. Huang, and accompanist
Emily Hamper, appeared before an eager audience at the WinnipegArtGallery as part of an E-Gré sponsored national tour. Prior to the concert, the president
Dr. John Bulman spoke on behalf of the Foundation, noting its continual efforts
to support, and provide exposure for, young Canadian artists and composers. The concert began with Huang’s passionate
interpretation of Schumann’s Liederkreis,
op. 24. With Hamper’s expert support, Huang quickly captured the audience’s
attention with a voice that was not only technically flawless but sparkled with personality. Huang’s gift as a vivacious and
charismatic storyteller fully revealed itself in Canadian composer Michael
Oesterle’s 2011 work Eckhardt Songs,
a series of colourful musical vignettes in which she took on a variety of
characters and roles, culminating with the stunning “chi pò," much to the amusement
of the delighted audience. The programme’s first half came to a close with the
marvelous Cinco canziones negras (‘Four
Black Songs’) by Xavier Montsalvatge, a collection of pieces infused with both
feelings of dramatic desperation and a vivid, off-beat sense of humour that
left patrons eager for the rest of what would undoubtedly be a truly
outstanding afternoon of music.The second half opened with Poems of Young People, a multi-movement piece
originally written for legendary Canadian contralto Maureen Forrester by the
late, Winnipeg-based composer Harry Freedman. Huang showed no difficulty in making
its enigmatic lyrics come alive on stage, proving particularly enchanting in
the piece’s final movement, “The Role of Canada in the World Today." The following,
Chausson’s melancholy, heartbreaking Chanson
Perpétuelle, op. 37, showcased both Huang and Hamper’s exceptional
sensitivity for classical repertoire. Nova Scotia-born composer Emily
Doolittle’s Airs of Men Long Dead was
selected by Huang for its roots in Norse mythology and its innovative utilization
of voice and piano. The work cast a hush over the auditorium the moment Hamper
began lightly, yet ominously, tapping on the front of her piano, as if knocking
on a door. Huang joined in with a voice both rich and evocative; as she filled
the listener’s mind with images of dimly-lit cabins and moonlit winter skies,
one could only observe in awe as the duo transported an entire audience deep
into the past. It seemed almost a shame to break
the spell, but each work that followed was more impressive than the last. “Banquo’s
Buried,"adapted by Alison Bauld from
the famous sleepwalking scene in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, was just as mesmerizing, with Huang inhabiting the character
of Lady Macbeth as if it were a second skin, both her talent for portraying complex
characters and her richly-hued, expressive voice at full force. The concert
proper ended with William Bolcom’s joyous “Amor," which proved a vibrant contrast
to Bauld’s chilling dramatics, allowing Huang to give the more sensual facets
of her dramatic range much-welcomed exposure and bringing the audience to its
feet. With many patrons rapturously calling out for encores, Huang responded
with a radiant performance of the iconic habanera from Bizet’s Carmen.
The concert was the first of the
2011-12 WMC season to be recorded live by CBC Radio 2, with a planned airdate
of Feb. 19th, 2012 on In
Concert with Bill Richardson. Listen here.